Workshops & Events

One of our goals as a Center is to foster innovative, evidence-based teaching and learning practices and critical reflection through workshops, reading groups, and invited speakers involved with national and international research on higher education.

Workshops & Events are free and open to all faculty and staff teaching at Elon, and are designed for instructors working in a range of teaching and learning contexts.

Descriptions for current and past CATL offerings can be found below.

Summer 2018

Reading Groups

Reading Group on Facilitating Seven Ways of Learning

In Facilitating Seven Ways of Learning, Davis and Arend suggest practical tips for matching your learning goals with the most effective teaching methods. The authors divide the book into seven categories of learning outcomes (such as, building skills, developing thinking and reasoning processes, practicing professional judgment) and connect those to different ways of learning and teaching that research suggests support those learning outcomes effectively.

Whether you are looking for new ways to improve student learning or simply continuing to fine-tune after years of experience, Facilitating Seven Ways of Learning can offer new ideas and also remind us why we make the effort to improve our facilitation skills.

Join colleagues for this two-part discussion of the book over lunch. Please plan to attend both sessions.

Reading Group on Interactive Lecturing

Interactive Lecturing is designed to “help faculty members more effectively lecture,” in ways that combine purposeful student learning activities with engaging lectures. The authors share tips, strategies, and techniques applicable across a wide variety of disciplines.

On June 19th, we will explore the theoretical framework of the book as we define interactive lecturing and discuss what it looks like in practice.

On July 10th, we will explore tips, strategies, and techniques as well as sharing at least one technique that we have modified for use in our own classroom.

Course Design Working Groups

Times will vary

Whether you are planning a new course or re-thinking one you’ve taught before, you can sign up to be part of a course design working group. Groups meet 3 times during the summer—often over lunch—based on group member’s schedules. During the meetings, we’ll discuss each course, using a backwards course design framework and focusing on the questions and topics that most interest you as you design it.

Facilitated by CATL faculty, planned around your schedules, and focused on your key questions, course design groups can be a collegial and productive way to develop a course. Past working group members remark that:

“the greatest use for me was the discipline of thinking through exactly what I wanted the students to learn.”

“I typically think that course development is a very lonely process. It helped alleviate a lot of stress I was feeling.”

SoTL Community of Practice (CoP)

Times will vary

Open to faculty of all experience levels, this CoP brings together colleagues who have an emerging interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) to:

enrich thinking about SoTL and help you develop your SoTL project

identify the ways the SoTL scholarly process aligns with research processes already familiar to us from disciplinary frameworks, and

introduce members to resources helpful to develop and publish a SoTL project

Participants in the CoP will support, sharpen, and sustain the work of their colleagues, and individuals’ goals guide our shared time together.

Spring 2018

FEBRUARY

MARCH

THINKING ABOUT A NEW SOTL PROJECT?

Our conversations will help enrich your thinking about SoTL and to identify the ways in which the SoTL scholarly process aligns with research processes already familiar to us from disciplinary frameworks. It will also introduce resources to help develop (and eventually publish) of a SoTL project. Participants in the Community of Practice (CoP) will support, sharpen, and sustain the work of their colleagues, and individuals’ goals will guide our shared time together. Multiple meetings throughout the semester. Dates and times will be determined based on availability of those interested. Location will be decided when dates and times are determined. Snacks provided.

Winter 2018

JANUARY

Individuals belonging to groups associated with negative stereotypes (e.g. racial and ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, women) – often report a lack of belonging and comfort in environments where they are underrepresented. During this workshop, Dr. Johnson will highlight research demonstrating why universities may be threatening for groups that traditionally have been underrepresented in higher education, and how allyship can be used as a tool to create a more inclusive environment, and ultimately promote belonging for all identities. Implications and strategies for Elon will be discussed.

We’ll start at noon with a lightly structured discussion—or “course diagnostic” to help you decide where to focus and what you want to accomplish—over lunch, followed by time and space to work on your course(s) during the afternoon, with the option to talk with a colleague or CATL consultant to think out loud about ideas during a break. Various rooms and spaces in Belk Pavilion will be set aside as workspace between 12:00-4:30 pm. Stay for as long (or as little) time as you need. Our only requirement is that you help create a distraction-free zone for yourself and others — no email, calls, or other distractions, except during a break or lunch.

Fall 2017

SEPTEMBER

Workshop – Guest Speaker, Sherry Linkon: Class in the Classroom

Monday, September 4th, 12:15-1:30 pm, Belk 208 (Lunch provided)

As economic inequality grows and in the aftermath of an election that drew significant attention to white working-class communities, understanding social class seems more important than ever. But teaching about class isn’t easy. The concept is complex and contested, and it can generate uncertainty for faculty and resistance among students, who come from a range of backgrounds and experiences. In this session, we’ll dig into the challenges of teaching about class and strategies for making it clearer, more engaging, and more relevant for students.

Bio: Sherry Lee Linkon is a Professor of English and Director of the Writing Program at Georgetown University. Her teaching and research involve two main areas: teaching and learning in the humanities and the interdisciplinary study of working-class culture. In working-class studies, Linkon’s work focuses on social class in higher education, deindustrialization, and contemporary working-class literature. Her edited collection Teaching Working Class (Massachusetts, 1999) was named one of the most important academic books of the 1990s by Lingua Franca magazine. With John Russo, she co-authored Steeltown USA: Work and Memory in Youngstown (Kansas, 2002) and co-edited New Working-Class Studies (Cornell, 2005). Her forthcoming book, The Half-Life of Deindustrialization, examines early twenty first-century working-class narratives reflecting the continuing effects of economic restructuring, primarily in Rust Belt cities. She was the founding President of the Working-Class Studies Association, and she edits a weekly blog, Working-Class Perspectives.

Talking Teaching: Is Teaching Students to Fail Actually Giving them Agency?

Wednesday, September 20th, 4:15-5:30 pm, Belk 201 (Snacks provided)

There’s been a lot of discussion around teaching students to fail. But how (and by whom) is “failure” defined? Often, failure takes place within the parameters of classes or college life that students themselves do not create. Should we instead be teaching students to create their own parameters inside which they attempt to meet their own goals? Then, if and when they encounter failure, that failure is more authentic because the student invested their own thought and planning in creating the experience. What might that mean our teaching and student learning? Join colleagues to discuss the implications of “teaching failure.”

This practical workshop provides evidence-based rules of engagement for developing high-impact mentoring relationships with undergraduates in a range of contexts, from teaching and learning to advising and research. Topics include the interpersonal qualities and behavior strategies of highly-effective “Master” mentors, techniques for forming effective mentorships, and key ethical obligations and considerations. There will be a strong focus on using mentorships to leverage inclusion and diversity with particular focus on gender and race. Cultural humility and egalitarian values in the context of mentoring relationships will also be emphasized. Participants will discuss key obstacles to mentoring and leave with several strategies for streamlining mentoring activities without reducing their efficacy.

Bio: W. Brad Johnson, PhD is Professor of psychology in the Department of Leadership, Ethics and Law at the United States Naval Academy, and a Faculty Associate in the Graduate School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. A clinical psychologist, Dr. Johnson is a mentoring expert specializing in developing strong mentoring cultures for organizations around the globe. Dr. Johnson is the author of numerous publications including 13 books, in the areas of mentoring, professional ethics, and leadership. His most recent books include: Athena Rising: How and Why Men Should Mentor Women (2016, with David Smith); and On Being a Mentor: A Guide for Higher Education Faculty (2nd ed.) (2015).

Having respectful and productive conversations about controversial issues is one of the most vital aspects of civic and political learning. These conversations can be challenging to lead and conduct, but trained facilitators can ensure that valuable discussions take place in which all participants feel comfortable even as conflicting ideas and beliefs are expressed.

This session is limited to 30 participants. Registration in advance is required.

Sponsored by Center for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning, North Carolina Campus Compact, and the Kernodle Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement

Bio: Nancy Thomas is the Director of the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education in the Jonathan M. Tisch College for Civic Life at Tufts University. She directs research on higher education’s role in American democracy, including the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE). Prior to joining Tisch College in 2012, Nancy directed the Democracy Imperative, a national network of academics and practitioners working to advance deliberative democracy in higher education. Earlier in her career, she practiced university law. She currently serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Public Deliberation and senior associate with Everyday Democracy. Her professional interests connect political learning and democratic engagement; equity, diversity, and inclusion; academic freedom and free speech, and; legal issues in higher education. She holds a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a JD from Case Western Reserve University.

NOVEMBER

Talking Teaching: Making the Most of the End of Term

Wednesday, November 15th, 4:15-5:30pm, Belk 201 (Snacks provided)

With Thanksgiving Break, the last weeks of classes, and the final exam period looming ahead, how can we as faculty help our students (and ourselves) flourish during the final month of the semester? Join colleagues from across the university to discuss

health and wellness at the end of term

connecting final exams, projects, and activities to course goals and themes

strategies for time management

supporting student learning

We’ll center our conversation on the topics of grading, meeting fatigue, and self-care and go from there. What tips and tricks do you have for surviving — and thriving — this busy time?

Workshop – Getting Ready for Winter Term

Wednesday, November 29th, 4:00-5:15 pm, Belk 208 (Snacks provided)

Your course meets 3 hours a day, 5 days a week for about 3 weeks. Class meetings are very long and yet the term is over in the blink of an eye. How do you take advantage of the opportunities offered by this unique format while also surviving the grueling schedule? How do you insure that your students learn really important things (deeply?). How do you take advantage of the Winter Term themes or student engagement grants?